The incident occurred on Wednesday, May 24, in the afternoon. A woman called the dispatch center and reported that her child had choked while being fed, had turned blue, and had stopped breathing. Nervous, the woman called... the fire service rather than the ambulance service. Junior warrant officer Tomasz Smogur gave her instructions over the phone on what to do to help the baby. At the same time, his colleagues called an ambulance. The entire operation lasted about 11 minutes—the time the ambulance needed to arrive at the scene.
The situation is particularly interesting because, a few days earlier, the firefighters had completed recertification of their first-aid qualifications. What is more, for the first time, a special examination was organized for dispatchers working at control centers. As it happened, our firefighter hero had exactly the same task on the examination as the one he faced in real life yesterday! As you can see, he passed the examination successfully—twice.
The firefighters of the Bolesławiec PSP are prepared to provide assistance. Each has at least a rescuer qualification and has completed qualified first-aid training. Twelve of them hold paramedic qualifications, some work in healthcare, and one is a qualified nurse.